


Shades of Grey... Green, and Blue.

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 21:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8463631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Different people see colors in different ways





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'connect'

Shades of Grey... Green, and Blue.

by  Bluewolf

"You'd be surprised how different several witness reports of the same incident can be," Jim said dryly, the first time Blair had commented on two fairly contradictory responses to the same armed robbery. "The witnesses are seeing things from different angles, different distances... hell, they can even have a different perception of color. Take blue and green. A robber wearing a turquoise shirt, running away - one witness sees it as green, one sees it as blue. They're both describing what they saw - they're both right. Take a third witness who happens to be color-blind - he sees it as grey

"So that's part of what we have to do after we get all the witness statements - we go through them, connect where the statements match, look for where they differ, and try to work out why - as I said, three people can see the same color completely differently."

Blair nodded thoughtfully. "There's a tribe in Africa that can't easily tell blue from green, but find it easy to tell different shades of green apart - sorry. I'm getting off the subject."

Jim merely grinned. Even in the short time they had known each other, he had already learned how easily Blair could side-track himself, given the slightest excuse.

***

Six years later, Jim found himself remembering that conversation as he read over several witness reports.

It was an almost identical situation to the hypothetical one he had described to Blair. Two men wearing turquoise shirts had been involved in a street fight - the only reason Major Crime had been involved was that Jim had been driving along, seen the fight just as one man had staggered back and collapsed, obviously seriously hurt, while the other turned to walk away. No way - not on Jim's watch! He had chased and arrested the man while Blair grabbed the three independent witnesses who had clearly felt it wasn't their place to get involved.

Now Jim was studying their statements.

When asked who started the fight, one witness said, "The one wearing the shirt that's an ugly shade of blue."

"The second said, "The one wearing the darker green shirt."

The third said, "I'm really not sure. I think it might have been the one in the darker grey shirt, but I wouldn't swear to that."

Jim made a face... but two had described a darker shade... and he had been pretty sure that the one he arrested had been wearing a slightly lighter turquoise than his victim. It was beginning to look as if the instigator had bitten off more than he could chew. And that would certainly match what the man claimed; that he had been attacked, defended himself, and having floored his attacker had simply walked on.

He went to see about getting photos of the two men, to see if facial recognition would work where a description of the shirts didn't.

The prisoner was easy - they already had his mug shot, The one still in hospital, generally regarded as the victim, hadn't been photographed.

Jim organized a photographer to go to the hospital.

That photo showed a somewhat battered face - badly bruised, cut cheek - if he had started it he certainly wouldn't be easy to identify.

Jim frowned slightly and went in search of the witnesses.

The first one was the one who had identified the men as wearing grey. He frowned over the battered face, then shook his head as he handed over the mug shot. "That's the one who was attacked."

"You're sure of that?"

"Certain."

"Thank you."

Jim went in search of the second witness, and offered him the two photos. He looked at them carefully, then shook his head "I couldn't identify him - " he handed back the photo of the battered man - "as the one who started it, but I can identify him - " he handed back the mug shot - "as the one who was attacked."

"Thank you."

Two out of three. Even if the third witness wouldn't commit himself, it gave the guy currently in a holding cell a good reason for beating up the other man, even though just turning and walking away was inhumane.

But the third witness also identified him as the one who was initially attacked.

Jim's next move was to question the prisoner, who, earlier, had been furiously angry and simply sworn viciously at any questioner. He had spluttered out a barely comprehensible statement then retired into a furious silence

"What was the fight about?" he asked, hoping that this time he would get a sensible answer.

Don Grant shook his head. "Damned if I know," he said. "He accused me of cheating him, but I never saw him before in my life. Hell, I'm just here on holiday! I tried telling him that but he wouldn't listen. He just yelled 'nobody cheats me!' and rushed at me. I was maybe a bit brutal, but all I was doing was defending myself."

"I can see that," Jim agreed. "And too angry to think he might need hospital treatment after you finished with him?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that. I thought he would just get up, realize he'd maybe made a mistake after all, and walk away."

"All right, Mr. Grant. Three independent witnesses have identified you as the man who was attacked. It's clear to me that you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time - basically the only reason you were arrested was that you walked away from a man you had just beaten to the ground without stopping to see if he was badly hurt. I can understand why, now."

"It would help if I knew why, though. Why he thought I - a complete stranger - had cheated him."

Jim sighed "A chance resemblance - who knows. When he comes round we can ask him."

But they never did find out. When Ross Evans did regain consciousness, he had no memory of having attacked anyone, no memory of having been cheated by anyone. It was almost as if he had simply wanted to start a fight and used 'you cheated me' as an excuse. It had been his bad luck that the man he chose as his target was well versed in bare-knuckle fighting.


End file.
